[Januaryfirst] anti capitalism panel at rising tide training weekend?

[Stephen Collis]

Thanks Gil!

Tamara Herman is going to join us too. So I can start out (10-15 minutes) then Tamara (same), and then Jan First - and then on into the groups exercise/discussion. I like that! And yes, we will set up in a circle.

Solidarity,

Stephen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gil" <zapat3ro at gmail.com>
To: "Stephen Collis" <scollis at sfu.ca>, "Jan 1st Collective (list)" <januaryfirst at lists.resist.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, April 2, 2014 12:22:33 PM
Subject: Re: anti capitalism panel at rising tide training weekend?

Hi Stephen, 


Apologies forma not responding earlier! 


Yes, it would work well like you propose. In fact we were chatting yesterday about asking you to go first and sort of "set the stage" by talking about capitalism more broadly, and then we'd talk about trade and how it all relates to very specific ways in which we organize our lives and become "active perpetuators" of capitalist values and practices. But we'll keep that a bit more general so we can ask people to do the exercise of reflecting on this themselves in the group. 


As far as how to do this, we're hoping therell be a big enough crowd (but not too big) to have a more of collective discussion/debate about these ideas, rather than a presentation from us "experts" and the the "audience" asks questions. So, perhaps we can organize the space in a circle, we give our presentations, and then lead this discussion. We'd be interested in challenging ourselves to think of concrete ways in which we are all part if these dynamics and to dig deeper into what it means to be "anti-capitalist", and how that can be done in the context of Vancouver or BC. 


We'll also talk about the zapatistasand other expe iences in Latin America :-) 


Gil 




On Wednesday, April 2, 2014, Stephen Collis < scollis at sfu.ca > wrote: 


Hi January First! 

So it looks like our anti-capitalism panel will just be me and you (that makes a "we," luckily). Not sure what you have planned, or how many of you will participate, but here's one suggestion: I could lay out some broad picture stuff, talking about contemporary capitalism and the (Canadian) state, in the context of resource extraction. I will probably say something about the Zapatistas when it comes to resistance, because I still feel they provide such a key example of to get it done. Then over to you to talk trade? What do you think? 

Stephen 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gil" < zapat3ro at gmail.com > 
To: "Stephen Collis" < scollis at sfu.ca > 
Cc: "Jan 1st Collective (list)" < januaryfirst at lists.resist.ca > 
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2014 4:58:20 PM 
Subject: Re: anti capitalism panel at rising tide training weekend? 


Hi Stephen, 


Yes, we're in. We'll do our best to inject a bit of an interesting twist to our presentation. We'd pitch it based on my previous email; something like: 


"Members from the January 1st Collective will talk about trade as one of the most visible faces of capitalism, and how "once you know a trade agreement, you know them all". Most of the focus will be in collectively identifying the links between free trade and environmental justice, indigenous rights, migrants' dignity and many other struggles." 


As for who we are, you could just add something like: 


"The January 1st Collective is a Vancouver-based group that seeks to organize with people and groups by bring the discussion of trade back to life (it seems anti-free trade organizing is so 1990s!), and using as an opportunity to "connect the dots" between many struggles and set our collective sights on the root causes of these issues: rampant capitalist, neo-liberal colonialism. Check us out at facebook.com/jan1stcollective " 


Please let me know if you need more info. 


Oh yeah, I wans wondering if you'd be interested in being added to our Jan. 1st organizing list. It's not too heavy on traffic but it does get some "let's meet at X time" and "I can't, let's do Y" sort of emails. We are also putting together an "announcement" list, which would only get invites to events, meetings, etc., so we can add you to that one instead, if you're interested. 


Cheers! 


gil 



On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 6:52 PM, Stephen Collis < scollis at sfu.ca > wrote: 


Hi Gil 

Has the collective come to a decision? Let me know if you are going to participate. The panel, by the way, would be Saturday the 5th from 1-3pm. Thanks! 


Stephen 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gil" < zapat3ro at gmail.com > 
To: "Stephen Collis" < scollis at sfu.ca > 

Cc: "Jan 1st Collective (list)" < januaryfirst at lists.resist.ca > 


Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 11:34:12 PM 
Subject: Re: anti capitalism panel at rising tide training weekend? 


Hi Stephen, 


Everyone at our meeting was happy that you invited us to be part of this, and so we're on board. However, it seemed a bit hard for us to come up with a plan of exactly what/how to do this since we felt the details were still a bit too nebulous :-p 


So, have you defined more what is sort of the slot you have for us? If possible, we'd like to know what day and time we are doing this, and how long we have for our part. And if you've managed to narrow down some more details, like who else is participating and what are they focusing on, we'd love to know. 


We're sure it'll turn out great regardless, but if we have a bit more clarity we can make sure we come better prepared. 


Thanks again! 


gil 



On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 6:17 PM, Stephen Collis < scollis at sfu.ca > wrote: 


Hi Gil, 

Great - and thanks! 

The idea was a panel, though we could maybe play loosely with that idea if you wanted to. As for ideas, it would be great if you talked about trade - everything you say here sounds interesting. NAFTA to TPP? What they have in common/what they all result in (as far an environment, indigenous and migrants rights, etc.) - all would be interesting. 

Let me know after your meeting on Tuesday. 

Stephen 



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gil" < zapat3ro at gmail.com > 
To: "Stephen Collis" < scollis at sfu.ca > 
Cc: "Alexandra Henao" < alexandrahenaoc at gmail.com > 
Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 1:22:29 PM 
Subject: Re: anti capitalism panel at rising tide training weekend? 

Hi Stephen, 


Thanks for contacting us! 


Peter from Rising Tide had